Modal theory for the two-frequency mutual coherence function in random media: beam waves

Pulse propagation in a random medium is mainly determined by the two-frequency mutual coherence function which satisfies the parabolic equation. It has recently been shown that this equation can be solved by separation of variables, thereby reducing the solution for any structure function to the solution of ordinary differential equations. In this paper, the method is applied for a beam-wave excitation in a random medium. The exact solution for a quadratic medium is derived. For non-quadratic power-law media an analytical expression at equal positions is presented.